Category: A Spiritual Look At All Forms Of Entertainment…

I saw a movie today that made me cry so hard. It was about a middle-aged man who was living a pretty great life until he experienced a tragic event that changed everything for him. It was called “Me Before You” and much of it reminded me of what I’ve been going through myself in recent years.

The film begins with an extremely good-looking man named Will Traynor (played by Sam Claflin) who is just starting his day in a very upbeat way. It’s apparent how good his life is by his home surroundings, his attractive girlfriend, and even the clothes he puts on to go to work. But suddenly his playboy life changes in the blink of an eye when he’s hit by a motorcycle during a heavy downpour heading on foot to work and becomes a paraplegic.

The story picks up two years later with his family looking to hire someone to help keep him company, as he has been more despondent than not with anyone or anything ever since his tragic accident. Enter Lou Clark (played by Emilia Clarke), a quirky young woman just looking for a job after a recent layoff at the diner she worked at. With her family pressuring her to help support the household by a currently laid off father, she’s willing to take anything in a town where jobs are scarce. So when an opportunity arises to be a caregiver for the local very-wealthy Traynor family, she jumps at the chance, but assumes it’s probably for an elder man. Little does she know that it’s for Will or that his mother has an ulterior motive behind the person they’re looking to hire. Will has signed a right-to-die contract for a euthanasia in Switzerland, but promised his parents he’d give his life six more months before making the final decision. His mother secretly hopes that the woman they hire, that being Lou, will somehow change his mind and give him a reason to go on living during that time.

While I know I’m not paralyzed nor confined to a wheelchair like Will was in the movie, I could relate to all the pain and anguish he went through day after day after day, trying to cope with a life he never wanted or ever imagined he’d be living.

Not too long ago, I was living a similar life to Will’s, except for one thing. I couldn’t seem to free myself from falling into one addiction after another. So in a humble-moment one afternoon, after falling prey to yet another time of toxic behavior, I got on my knees and asked God to bring me through whatever I needed to go through to be free from all the addictions, toxins, impurities, and energies that kept me from being the person God wanted me to be in this life. In that moment, I truly was open and willing and ready to go through whatever I needed to, to make that happen. Little did I know though that my life would change dramatically not too long after that prayer, as I would become plagued with many different pains and ailments.

And similar to what Will experienced in the movie, there has been no amount of medications, loving company, holistic healing, volunteering, or the like that has been able to truly bring a consistent smile to my face or warmth to my soul. Yet, years later, there is one thing that has sustained me from giving up like Will wanted to in the film. It’s God and I have remained faithful to God even on many days when the pain has been so great I’ve wanted to curl up in a ball and die. Why? Because I believe God has a plan for me that’s not meant to end with this.

But I must admit that sometimes I think if euthanasia did exist here in our country, I might have already gone down that path myself on days when it’s harder to exist than not. But yet, I don’t believe that’s the path I’m meant to take. I don’t believe that God has allowed me to go through all this, just to end up being taken care of by someone else for the rest of my life. I also don’t believe that God’s plans for me involve being medicated and numb just to keep going. So I wait with hope and I have joy in that hope, joy that one day soon things will be far better for me and that’s where my path diverted from that of Will’s in the movie.

Without God, I think I’d probably already be dead by now given what I’ve gone through all these years. But I must say, seeing this movie truly was like seeing a snippet out of my own life and all the difficulties I go through just to make it through a single day.

Nevertheless, “Me Before You” was a strong tear-jerker film that truly did hit very close to home. While I’m grateful I’m not paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair, I related so much to Will Traynor’s struggles throughout the entire movie. Living with intense pain or any serious handicap is not easy, especially when others don’t know how it feels because they’ve never gone through it themselves. So I encourage all of you to be thankful for what you have, especially if you’re not currently suffering with any serious handicap or daily pain, because there are people out there just like Will and myself who do and who have uphill battles to face with each living breath. But if you do struggle like Will or myself, know you’re not alone and know there is one who can sustain you through it all, and that’s God, for I’m living proof that even in the darkness, there is light…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

When I was kid, I regularly used to make a lot of strange noises with my mouth, do funny faces and poses, create messes in all sorts of ways, and produce percussion-like noises with whatever and wherever I could. Watching Blue Man Group is a lot like that and almost feels as if you took a visual trip back into your childhood during their 90-minute performance.

My partner actually took me to see them for my birthday this year. If you’ve never gotten the chance to this eccentric show, I highly recommend it for one reason. It really does bring out the inner child in you.

The show itself is about three individuals who are completely dressed in black clothes, are colored dark blue from head to toe, and show childlike emotions and fascination through a spectacular display of lights, video, sounds, props and more. There is so much off-the-wall kid-based humor throughout their act that it makes it nearly impossible to not laugh during the majority of it.

Ironically, this was actually my second time seeing them perform in the past decade, but I enjoyed it even more this time around. Not only because the show has evolved and become even more fun since the last time I saw it, but also because the company I was with was far healthier for me than my last go around when I spent it with someone I was seriously addicted to.

Nevertheless, I’m always grateful to find new ways to get in touch with my inner child because of how important it is to never lose sight of the kid that lives within me. Far too often, too many push that part of themselves down, they grow up, they act like big, strong adults, and they forget all about that little boy or girl who still lives deep inside them. I often tend to believe that’s where much of the world’s sadness comes from in life, because so many neglect getting in touch with this part of themselves the older they get.

That’s why I do my very best these days to make time for my own inner child and I tend to feel much better in life when I do. So I encourage you to not only do the same, but to also go see The Blue Man Group if you ever get the chance, and allow that kid within you to have 90-minutes of child-like fun, as I’m sure you won’t regret it!

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

Have you ever watched a movie that touches you so much it moves you to tears simply because it resonates with something you’ve either gone through or are still going through? “Miracles From Heaven” is an example of one that did that very thing for me when I saw it in the theater about a week ago.

The film is based on the true story of 10-year old Anna Beam (Kylie Rogers) who lives with a rare, incurable disorder that renders her unable to digest food. But despite the grave situation of Anna’s illness, her devoted mother Christy (Jennifer Garner) relentlessly searches for a way to save her daughter’s life. Unfortunately, she only seems to encounter one disappointment after another along with an ever-increasing amount of bills. As Anna’s hope slowly dwindles away and her health continues to deteriorate, so does Christy’s faith in God. Yet it is God who has the final say because one day a very sick and tired Anna decides to climb her favorite tree one last time and ends up falling some thirty feet, landing on her head. When she awakes later in the hospital, she begins to show signs of recovery from her fatal condition and has an inspiring message for her family about her condition that she says comes from God.

“Miracles From Heaven” is definitely a faith-based film as you can tell and it comes as a time when I most needed it. I love going to see movies like this because they move my soul, especially when it’s during a period of my life that has been filled with so much despair. Given the difficult journey I’ve been on with my own health, all my pains, and my suffering, I related greatly to Anna’s struggles. Probably the closest moment I felt to her pain was when she told her mother she was ready to die and go home. I’ve been in that spot so often in the past year of my life, and I’ve seen my faith in God waver a lot as well. Yet, “Miracles From Heaven” showed me that there’s always hope, not only because of Anna’s miracle, but also because of all the people along the way that God used to make that miracle happen.

So if you’ve ever struggled with something for a long period of time or are currently going through a great struggle in life, I encourage you to watch this movie. It will inspire, uplift, and move you to tears, all the while reminding you that there is a Power out there greater than ourselves, who does still perform miracles. I truly needed to see this movie as it gave me enough hope to not lose my faith and to keep trusting in God for another day…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson